Brazil's federal auditing court TCU ordered on Wednesday the seizure of about 2.1 billion reais ($655 million) worth of assets from engineering firms Odebrecht SA and OAS SA and some of their executives, to recoup losses from contracts related to the country's biggest ever corruption scandal. Brasilia-based TCU said in a ruling that the decision... Continue Reading →
BP to Halliburton in ‘Barroom Brawl’ as Drillers Slash Costs
Mad Dog, BP Plc’s drilling project deep in the Gulf of Mexico, could be Exhibit A in the oil industry’s war on cost. When the British oil giant announced the project’s second phase in 2011, it put the price at $20 billion. Last month, after simplifying plans and benefiting from a sharp drop in everything... Continue Reading →
Canada’s Brookfield to buy Odebrecht Ambiental
Canada's Brookfield Asset Management has signed a preliminary contract to buy Brazilian engineering conglomerate Grupo Odebrecht's 70 percent stake in water and sewage group Odebrecht Ambiental, an industry source told Reuters on Wednesday. The source said the deal was done at an equity value of 5.3 billion real ($1.65 billion), which implies an earnings before... Continue Reading →
Brazil justice authorizes probe on Rousseff, TV says
A Brazilian Federal Supreme Court justice has authorized the opening of an investigation into President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for allegedly working to obstruct the course of a sweeping corruption probe, GloboNews news channel said on Tuesday. According to GloboNews, Justice Teori Zavascki's ruling has given Prosecutor General Rodrigo... Continue Reading →
Ecopetrol Misses Profit Estimate as Oil Fall Blunts Cost Cutting
Ecopetrol SA, Colombia’s state-controlled oil producer, reported profit that missed analysts’s estimates as slumping crude prices overshadowed efforts to lower costs. Net income fell to 787 billion Colombian pesos ($269 million) in the second quarter from 1.51 trillion pesos in the same period last year, the Bogota-based producer said Tuesday in a statement distributed by... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Fiscal Plan Could Falter Without Pension Reform
Acting President Michel Temer’s prized fiscal austerity proposal to cap public spending will only succeed if he can convince Brazil’s Congress to pass a controversial pension reform as well, according to a leading member of his economic team. While Temer’s administration is confident it can win congressional approval this year of a constitutional amendment to limit federal spending,... Continue Reading →
Brazil has few options to limit real’s surge, official says
Aug 15 There is not much the Brazilian government can do to halt an appreciation in its real currency that is set to continue, given high liquidity abroad and less political uncertainty at home, a senior member of the economic team told Reuters. The government will rely on reducing its traditional currency swaps position to... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Nascent Recovery Can’t Conceal Challenges Still to Come
Brazil’s economy is pulling out of its tailspin, and now traders are watching to see how quickly acting President Michel Temer can get the country flying again. Investors, who pushed the nation’s stocks, bonds and currency to world-beating gains this year on anticipation a new government would restore growth, are seeing some signs their optimism... Continue Reading →
Maersk Gains as Company Meets Tough Market With Cost Cuts
A.P. Moeller Maersk A/S shares gained as Denmark’s biggest company met punishing market conditions with cost cuts in order to create a leaner business. The company’s B-shares rose as much as 6.9 percent after the market opened on Friday, and traded 5 percent higher at 9,520 kroner as of 9:34 a.m. in Copenhagen. Maersk reported... Continue Reading →
Brazil state development bank BNDES posts loss in first half
Reuters Aug 12 Brazil's state development bank BNDES, the nation's biggest source of long-term corporate funding, posted a net loss of 2.174 billion reais ($689 million) in the first six months of the year, reversing profit of 3.515 billion reais a year earlier. In a statement, the Rio de Janeiro-based lender said the build-up of... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 